


Clockwork Dancers

by Sportscandycollective



Category: LazyTown
Genre: Alternate Ending, Ballet, Dancing, Darkness, Discovery, Domestic, Emotions, Family, Family Bonding, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Happy Ending, Isolation, Loneliness, Swing Dancing, Tap Dancing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-21 11:23:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10684299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sportscandycollective/pseuds/Sportscandycollective
Summary: An alternate ending to "Dancing Duel".After Rottenella is thrown in storage, she spends a lot of time thinking, hating, feeling sad, and eventually, dreaming. Most specifically, dreaming of dancing.NOTICE: PLEASE DO NOT REPOST MY WORK ONTO OTHER WEBSITES.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Aka the author shows how little they know about dancing and just litter those scenes with various dancing terms.

“Dancing?! What a ridiculous waste of time!”

Robbie huffed as he carried the comatose clockwork girl under his arm, grunting as he hauled her down the hallway, pouting as he went. Yet another scheme had failed; he had tried to win the dance competition, but of course the pink girl and Sportaflop had to ruin his plans every single time. Now all he was left with was a giant robot forming machine, his pride bruised, and a clockwork ballerina he knew had to find room for. Skulking down the long and poorly lit hallway, he stopped in front of a large, steel door, enforced with at least five different locks of varying security level, from a large, futuristic retina scanner, to a chain lock that appeared more at home on a motel room door.  
Robbie went to work unlocking each and every lock, blinking as the light of the retina scanner partially blinded him. With a click and a hiss, the door popped open, Robbie ducking back as the door slammed against the wall. With an ever-permanent frown, Robbie strode into the darkened room, flipping a large switch near the door, filling the room with a yellow-hued light. The room itself was filled to the ceiling with various boxes and mechanical contraptions, all parts of failed plots and schemes that Robbie had collected over the year or so of trying to stop the flipping blue elf and restore LazyTown to its former laziness. Robbie tip-toed over various spilled caramels, marbles, and fake foliage, jumping for a second as his noisy ball squawked and chittered. Angrily, he picked up the ball and chucked it far back into the storage room, a crash and the sound of glass shattering accompanying its landing.  
“So many ideas, so many ingenious schemes…” Robbie said to himself, in a pitying tone. The tone quickly shifted back to anger. “All for nothing!” he snarled, as he kicked a large contraption. Recoiling, he bounced and cringed, the awful reverberating pain coursing through his foot. Striding forward, he crept past the little doghouse he had made for Sugar Pie, now collecting dust and cobwebs. Inside the house, Sugar Pie slept and (at least Robbie hoped) would most likely never wake again.

Tired of carrying the large, mechanical girl, Robbie hoisted Rottenella atop a pile of boxes, making sure that she didn’t topple the precariously stacked storage crates. Dusting off his hands, Robbie gave Rottenella one last, disappointed look.  
“I was sure that you were going to work! You danced so beautifully! So elegantly! But of course that Sportakook and the pink girl got in the way!” he bemoaned. Throwing his hands up, he stomped away to gather the clockwork machine to add to the storage room.  
A few minutes later, the sound of Robbie heaving and yanking the machine down the hall could be heard, along with his complaints and strained grunts. He stopped a moment, brushing the sweat off his brow, before continuing to pull the large machine into the depths of the storage room, past Rottenella’s resting spot. Finally finding a place for the machine to stay, Robbie sighed, pulling out the little Robbie Rotten figurine he had stored in his pocket.  
“You might as well go in here too.” He shrugged, chucking the doll over his shoulder and onto the boxes near the machine. Robbie yawned, stretching and cracking his arms and back. “Well, that was WAY more physical exertion than I ever planned to have! Time to go wallow with a snack and some TV.” Robbie then strode out of the storage room, flicking the lights off as he went. With the clanging sound of the door shutting, and the clicking of each lock being locked, Robbie was gone once more.

The room once again fell silent, the only noise that could be heard was the faint and distant sound of Robbie’s TV, but it was so quiet that one wouldn’t be able to discern what the sounds were supposed to be, much less what the plot of the movie/show he was watching was.

Rottenella’s eyes darted about, her plastic eyes unable to see anything in the pitch blackness. She tried to move her limbs but, alas, she was completely unwound. She couldn’t move her head, her arms, or her legs. Only her eyes seemed to work unprompted. And that wasn’t doing her much good.  
“ _He’s right, how could I have failed? My dancing was fantastic, my creator said so himself. I danced perfectly._ ” Rottenella thought, her mind racing back to that day’s events.  
She thought about how she was placed on that stage, her only goal in mind being to dance as beautifully and gracefully as she had been made to do. She captivated her audience, left them stunned and her rival uneasy. It seemed that the competition was won even before it had begun. While she was pulled off the stage as soon as her routine was complete, Rottenella could remember hearing the boastful statements made by Robbie, and the worried comments made by her competitor.  
“ _What was her name…Stephanie?_ _That must’ve been it._ ” Thought Rottenella. She suddenly felt a surge of…something, within her. It was unknown to Rottenella, a sort of burning and yet energizing feeling. It burned deep within her core, around the heart of her clockwork body. She had yet to find a name for that feeling, all she knew was that it compelled her next thought.  
“ _I hate her. I hate that girl. She stole my rightful victory. She’s the reason I’m here, and why my creator is so…unhappy._ ”  
Rottenella flashed back to Stephanie’s performance. Despite everything, from her stiff body to her lack of preparation, Stephanie had somehow managed to pull off a fairly impressive performance. Literally, every factor was against Stephanie, even without the sabotage Robbie had pulled midway through her performance. This should’ve been easy. Yet, somehow, Stephanie still walked away with the golden trophy and the cheers of the audience. Rottenella went away with nothing.  
“ _She stole my victory. I will make her pay._ ” Thought Rottenella. She once again tried to move her arms and legs, and once again they refused to budge.  
“ _Fat lot of good empty threats will get me, if I can’t act upon any of them_.” She sighed within her mind.

Rottenella continued to stew as she thought about the townsfolk. She thought about their faces when she first took the stage.  
“ _I should’ve known this wouldn’t go well. Their faces decided the winner from the very start. All of them were Stephanie’s…allies._ ” She then remembered Stephanie calling the judge “uncle” at one point. “ _And she was the niece of the judge? This contest wasn’t fair from the start!_ ”  
Rottenella pouted within her mind, her eyes slowly adjusting to the pitch blackness, thanks to the sliver of light coming from the hallway through the slit of the door. All she could see were mountains of crates and various machinery, in various stages of disrepair. Not exactly the most uplifting environment, even less so if you were stuck there for (by all accounts) the rest of eternity.  
“ _It’s all THEIR faults I’m stuck here. I wasn’t given a fair shot to begin with. Once I can move, they will all pay._ ” She snarled in her thoughts. She suddenly remembered one more person, the man in the blue uniform. The one that Robbie seemed to despise the most. Rottenella tried to remember something about the man, though all she could come up with was him giving a pep talk to Stephanie and, at one point, shooting a disapproving glance towards Robbie.  
“ _Well, if my creator dislikes him, then I don’t like him too. Especially since he’s friends with Stephanie. I really hate him._ ” Rottenella thought angrily.

Her eyes darted to the door, her clockwork body seething with the unknown and explosive energy that had sent her on this train of thought.

“ _I just have to wait until my creator comes back and winds me up. I’ll prove it to him, by making all those dimwits pay. They’ll just wait and see._ ”

\--

Months passed, and it appeared that Rottenella was the one who was doing the waiting.

She could feel the layers of dust forming over her porcelain face, her metal skin, and her plastic eyeballs. She desperately wanted to blink, move, _do anything_ , just to loosen her limbs as they began to feel more stuck from lack of usage. She could not, of course, and could only sit in silence, the only sounds occasionally permeating the bunker like storage room being the sounds of Robbie’s tantrums, the faint hum of the TV, and the ever-rare burst of steam in the hallway. Rottenella sometimes found herself counting the steam bursts she heard. She’d gotten up to 115.

Every few days, Robbie would unlock the locks to the storage room, flipping the switch and filling the room with a yellowish light. Rottenella would feel so much…well again she had yet to name this sensation, but she figured it was something good as it made her feel giddy and prompted thoughts of escape and of Robbie winding up her dusty key, allowing her freedom of movement once again.  
But each time these… “hopes”, as she believed they were called, would be dashed. Robbie would simply walk in, usually off on another rant, lugging some other contraption or mechanical device to be tossed aside and forgotten in storage. Every so often, Robbie would cast a glance to Rottenella, giving Rottenella more “hopes” of maybe, this time, would be the time he’d give her another chance. That he’d waltz over, wind up her key, and she could be free to dance or exact all the revenge he could dream of. Instead, however, these glances merely resulted in him scrunching his nose and shaking his head, walking past without another look. He’d simply drop of the mechanism, dust off his hands and, ranting all the way, stride out and lock up the room once more, draping the room in the pitch blackness that began to slowly grate on Rottenella.

As this pattern continued to repeat, Rottenella felt that old burning energy return to her mind. She eventually decided to name this energy “hate”, as she had heard Robbie mention something about that word and she felt it appropriately described what she felt.  
Either way, Rottenella felt her hatred return, though this time it was directed at Robbie.  
“ _Why doesn’t my creator ever wind me up? He looks at me, he obviously knows I’m here. Why doesn’t he take me out of this accursed place? Surely, my failure wasn’t that bad…_ ” Rottenella’s thoughts paused. “ _…was it?_ ”  
Suddenly, Rottenella could feel her body grow heavy, the thoughts seemingly literally weighing upon her form. She decided to banish those thoughts, they were painful and heavy. Instead, she refocused her thoughts to spur the burning energy of hate once more.  
“ _He is my creator, and I am his creation. Yet he leaves me in this awful place? He is just as bad as Stephanie. No, he is worse.  I hate him too. I hate every one of those people._ ” She stewed. The burning hatred within her, however, began to mix with that banished feeling. It was an odd combination, to say the least. A fusion of burning hatred coupled with the sagging and heavy feeling. What could be causing it?

“ _Why can’t he give me another chance?_ ” Rottenella thought. The sagging feeling grew, overtaking and extinguishing the burning energy within her. Her eyes drooped down towards the floor, the only sound audible to her being the rhythmic dripping sounds of a newly leaking pipe somewhere in the storage room.  
The heavy feeling seemed to be clashing with the burning energy, still left like little sparks within her. The clashing emotions resulted in a mixed and confusing train of thoughts.  
“ _Why did he leave me here?_ ”  
“ _That fool will pay for abandoning me._ ”  
“ _He knows I’m here, yet he barely acknowledges me?_ ”  
“ _He left me here to ROT. His own creation!_ ”  
“ _Does he not like me either? Does no one like me?_ ”  
“ _He never really cared about me._ ”

That last thought struck Rottenella. She thought back to when she was first made, the comments he had made about her creation. He had seemed happy, jumping about and admiring Rottenella when she first appeared, laughing with glee as she first demonstrated her dance, as well as when she gracefully got rid of the other clockwork Robbie. But as she thought more (might as well, she had all the time in the world), she remembered how all of Robbie’s comments, all his praise centered…on her ability to stop the dance competition. And himself, of course. It dawned on Rottenella: her whole worth was decided upon how successful she was at the dance competition. And since she lost…

“ _That’s it then. He never cared about me, not truly. I was a tool in yet another plan. I was made to accomplish a purpose, and I failed. No wonder he hasn’t wound me up again, I have no purpose anymore_.” She thought, the heaviness growing more with each word.

Had she been able to cry, Rottenella would have shed a few. Instead, her eyes remained trained on the floor, motionless.

\--

Given her lack of available sunlight or a working timepiece, Rottenella had no clue how much time she had spent inside the storage room. To her, it felt like an eternity. But if she were to guess, she had laid on top of those same boxes for over a year. Cobwebs draped from her pigtails, the little spiders that lived there quickly working to create more traps for the occasional unlucky fly. Rottenella had come to name the spiders. She called the biggest one “Bigs”, the flightier one “Bird”, and the tiniest one “Marble”. Not the best names ever, she figured, but given her limited exposure to the outside world, it was the best she could do.

Besides, it was the least she could do to stave off the emotion that had been creeping within her for the past several months. It was yet another one she had not been able to identify, but it was a strangely driven need to see and interact. Despite having no working voice box, Rottenella wanted desperately to see a person, any person other than Robbie. For the longest time, she was unable to put a word to the sensation.

After enough time, she finally found the word: loneliness.

The growing feeling of “loneliness” had come to extinguish the burning energy that once flowed so naturally through her, and instead fueled the heavy feeling within her. The length of time she spent in the dark and nearly soundless room had caused her to dream incessantly about the outside, with its blue sky and fresh air. But most of all, of its people.  
Even though she still harbored a great dislike for her, Rottenella could no longer bring herself to hate Stephanie. Of course, she was still bitter at her winning the dance competition and not her. But the growing loneliness, compounded by how stir-crazy she was going from being locked in a small and pitch black room, had caused her to start viewing Stephanie in a more positive light.  
“ _Maybe she and I would get along. She seems to love dancing as much as I do. Perhaps we could at least talk about that. She was…fairly good._ ” Rottenella would think, her mind drifting into daydreams about the two of them talking about dancing.  
Even her hatred for the townsfolk and the blue elf began to fade. Okay, she still vehemently disliked the townsfolk, mostly because they never gave her a chance. But she remembered still their, albeit nervous, comments about how good of a dancer she was. Even if they were on Stephanie’s side, she had at least impressed them.  
As for the blue uniformed man, well she found that she had no specific reason to hate him. By all accounts, she hadn’t really even met him. She only hated him because Robbie hated him. And since her hatred had turned towards Robbie, she found it no longer made sense to hate the blue elf. By this point, she was mostly indifferent to him.

What she did feel towards Stephanie, and to a lesser degree Sportacus, was envy.

While it was fleeting, Rottenella had caught a glimpse of Stephanie’s victory dance. She saw the audience’s excitement, the music bringing them to their feet as they celebrated Stephanie’s win over her. And in one of the last things she saw before she was dragged back down into Robbie’s lair, she saw Stephanie and the blue elf dancing _together_.

Together? Rottenella had never considered the idea of dancing with someone else. She had been created with the sole purpose to dance on her own, as Robbie had no dancing skills.

But now that she had seen the…joy that both Stephanie and the blue uniformed man experienced through dancing together, the energy it brought to the whole audience, Rottenella knew that she wanted to experience it too.

Something new replaced the heavy feeling. It was much like the burning energy, but the burn was accompanied by “hopes”, giving her an uplifting and giddy energy. Something that made her more desperate than ever to get herself wound up, just so she could dance again. Not just dance like her clockwork gears functioned to do, but to truly dance for her own and only her pleasure.

“ _I want to dance like them. I want to dance with another._ ” Rottenella thought over and over again. She wondered how long it would take for her chance to come.

\--

As it would turn out, Rottenella didn’t need to wait too long.

Only a week later, the door to the storage room was once again opened, the yellow light filling the room once more. Robbie stood in the doorway, his clothes covered in what looked like a goopy substance. Rottenella could smell a distinctly sweet smell from the goop. It was one of the few joys she had in the room. Whenever Robbie would make one of his many famous cakes, the smell would waft into the storage room, giving Rottenella something pleasant in the midst of her dark and lonely period of solitude.

“Some “piece of cake” plan you turned out to be!” Robbie scolded the large contraption he pulled behind him. He groaned as he yanked the handle on the gigantic machine, inching it deep into the storage room.  
“So simple! Bake a large cake, get those little brats to snack on it, and then they’d be too lazy to play any sports and too full to eat those DISGUSTING vegetables!” Robbie rolled his eyes. “Of course, Sportadink would find a way to sabotage my Mixatron 6000!” Robbie, seeing a space next to Rottenella, parked the gigantic baking machine right next door to her, the mixing whisk hovering precariously near her body.  
Robbie sighed tiredly. “I need a vacation; these failures are starting to get embarrassing.” He announced. Turning on his heel, he waltzed out of the room. “Perhaps I’ll get myself a slice of cake to relax.” He stopped, grimacing. “On second thought, maybe a bowl of popcorn instead.” He slammed the door shut, locking the locks firmly. The lights went dark, releasing only a sputter of sparks.

Rottenella’s eyes drew up towards the ceiling, where she noticed a faulty electrical wire spitting small streams of electrical sparks down and over the crates and machinery. For a second, she worried about the potential of a fire being started.  
“ _Well, if I burned away, at least I wouldn’t be stuck in here_.” She thought to herself darkly.  
A louder “crack” sound, and a larger fountain of sparks rained down, onto the Mixatron 6000. The few spare sparks must’ve been enough to start the machine, as the contraption stuttered a second, before quickly jolting to life, the whisk spinning meaninglessly, its wire claws stuck to Rottenella’s windup key. For the first time in so long, Rottenella heard the sweet clicking sound of her key being wound tighter and tighter. Soon enough, she was fully wound up.

With a spring in her motion, Rottenella pulled away from the whisk, her key being freed from its grasp. Remembering her spider friends, she looked down apologetically as Bigs and his family scurried away, hiding deep in the half-open boxes. Her arms automatically sprung into a fifth position en haut, dust flying from her body with each movement. Rottenella could feel that warm and energizing emotion course through her body. Just to test her limbs, Rottenella pirouetted, her arms kept in fifth position above her head. Even with how long they had spent stuck in the same place, Rottenella’s limbs were as limber as ever. Rottenella opened her mouth, imitating a gesture she had seen other people do when they seemed to feel that warm emotion. She believed it was called a “laugh”. Admittedly, she couldn’t properly do one herself, as she lacked a voice box, but the point was made regardless.

Gracefully halting her pirouette, Rottenella remembered her dream. She began to dance towards the door, leaping and even adding a grand jete to the mix, hoping to get her creator to dance with her. She paused. She remembered, in that moment, the fact that Robbie cared little for her and, not only that, couldn’t dance to save his life.  
Her energy drooped. She didn’t know if she had enough wind-up power to bring herself all the way up the ladder and into the town, let alone how the townsfolk would react to her sudden reappearance. She had no potential dance partner.  
“ _There must be a way. Did the creator ever create another being like myself?_ ” she puzzled. Suddenly, her face lit up with remembrance.  
Speedily she made her way back to her originally resting spot. She climbed up the boxes, up high enough to come face to face with the faulty wire. With no regards for the fasteners that kept the wire stuck to the ceiling, Rottenella nervously yanked the wire down, sparks flying everywhere. Climbing down, she wove her way through the treacherously tight corridors made by the mountains of junk, her eyes darting about, looking for one very specific contraption.

She found it nestled amongst boxes and boxes of other discarded parts. Pulling away a few smaller boxes, Rottenella uncovered the clockwork robot machine, the very one that had made her all that time ago. She gave a half smile when she saw the little clockwork Robbie doll, still laying on the machine’s conveyer belt, covered in dust and cobwebs much like she had been. While she would’ve preferred a different looking dance partner, considering he would be an exact duplicate of her much-hated creator, he’d have to do.  
Jamming the spitting wire into the machine’s side, Rottenella watched the machine come alive, whirring and glowing as the Robbie doll was wheeled towards the main frame. In a flash of light and a buzz, the little Robbie doll had once again been turned into a full-sized, clockwork Robbie. With no switch to turn off the conveyer belt, the clockwork Robbie tumbled off the machine’s belt and into a stacked pile of junk with a loud crash.  
Yanking away the wire, Rottenella leapt over to examine the Robbie robot. He didn’t seem to be moving, his body crumpled, his face down into the pile of garbage. Rottenella frowned, tapping the top of his head. Nothing. She looked towards the large, wind-up key that jutted from his back. Putting one foot on his back for support, Rottenella used all her strength to wind up the key, the clicking sound echoing through the room. Finally, once the key had been wound as tight as it would go, Rottenella stepped back, the Robbie bot jumping up onto his feet.  
He turned to face Rottenella, giving her a slight bow, holding himself high.  
“I…am Robbie Rotten!” he announced.  
Rottenella winced at the sound of his voice, but gave him a slight smile nonetheless. She nodded and gave “Robbie” a curtsey, gesturing him towards an open area in the storage room.  
With a big, doofy grin, Robbie said, “I go there!”, and walked towards the pathway.  
“ _He’s not very smart, but he might do. I just need to get him to dance_.” Rottenella thought to herself.

Rottenella followed closely behind the clockwork Robbie, her head turning left and right, as she looked for something she had seen earlier.  
She paused in the open area, reacting with surprise as she saw Robbie continue towards the door. With a leap, she jumped over and in front of Robbie with a front flip, grabbing onto the red velvet sleeve of his coat. Robbie stopped, his leg extended in front of him, as he found himself unable to progress forward.  
“I go there!” Robbie reiterated, pointing towards the door.  
Rottenella shook her head, tapping his shoulder and pointing back to the open area.  
Robbie snapped over, his attention turning towards the open area. He looked down at Rottenella. “I go there?”  
Rottenella gave him a faint smile, nodding.  
Robbie smiled back. “I go then!” Stiffly, he walked over to the open area, Rottenella guiding him to the correct spot.

Once they’d reached where she wanted him, Rottenella tugged down on Robbie’s sleeves, motioning for him to stop walking. Robbie stood still, his legs together and his face turned forward.  
Rottenella silently sighed, her attention turning towards the piles of crates. She walked over to them, digging around the boxes. Robbie watched intently.  
A few minutes later, Rottenella revealed an ornate music box, different from the one she came from. It was a curved box, locked with a gilded gold lock, painted a royal purple color with golden swirls that once glistened and shone in the light, now dulled from time and poor storage choices. Setting it gently on another wooden crate, she wound up the key on the side of the box. Once it was fully wound, she opened the top, revealing a pair of ballroom dancers spinning as the box played its song.  
Starting with her heels together, her toes pointed away from each other, Rottenella gracefully led her arms down, painting the air in front of her with her hand movements. With a gentle kick with her left leg, she hopped into a one-legged spin, one arm out in front of her, the other above her head. Twirling and spinning, she stopped the spin with a slight hop, landing on her toes. With one arm curved above her, Rottenella looked towards Robbie, who was still watching her, the same dumb grin plastered on his face. She gave a nod towards him.  
“Robbie…dance?” he asked.  
Rottenella nodded in approval.  
Robbie, lifting his arms up, proceeded to mimic Rottenella’s movements, albeit much more stiffly and awkwardly. His arm movements were rigid and graceless, his spin mechanical and broken. And when he attempted to stop? He nearly toppled over. Despite this, he still smiled, looking towards Rottenella for more instruction.

_Art by kessavel-Art on Tumblr: http://kessavel-art.tumblr.com/day/2017/07/15_

Biting her lip, Rottenella moved gracefully towards the clockwork Robbie. She took her starting position once more.  
“ _We should start simple. Like this, see?_ ” she thought. Admittedly, she wasn’t sure why she was pretending he could hear her. She’d have to literally mime his dance lesson.  
The clockwork Robbie nodded, his legs clamping together, heels together and his toes at a perfect 180-degree angle.  
“ _Perhaps he’s not completely hopeless._ ” Rottenella thought to herself, amused. She lowered her arms down to a bras bas position, her fingers touching above her hips. She nodded to Robbie. Rigidly, his arms took the same position. With her left foot forward, Rottenella started with a battement, switching her forward foot every few shuffles. With a twirl, she landed back into her starting pose a few feet away. She gestured for Robbie to do the same.

Awkwardly, Robbie attempted a battement, only to trip over his own feet, crashing to the ground. Rottenella cringed in response. However, Robbie shot right back up, trying the battement over and over again, each time tripping on his own feet. He eventually made it back to Rottenella, stiffly taking the starting position once more.

Rottenella frowned.  
“ _Perhaps we should just try a pose._ ” She thought.  
She went towards a first arabesque, lifting her right foot behind her, supporting herself on her left foot. She looked towards Robbie, signaling for him to try it as well.  
Robbie nodded. He lifted his foot up, only to start losing his balance. Hopping on his left foot, he flailed as he attempted to lift his right leg higher. Before nearly stumbling forward, the clockwork Robbie put down his foot, looking uneasily at Rottenella.

Rottenella’s face fell. Slowly she turned and walked away, sitting herself back in her old spot. If she could cry, she would’ve in that moment.  
“ _How did I think this would possibly work? He was never able to dance; how did I convince myself he suddenly would be able to?_ ” she thought to herself miserably. She shook her head before burrowing it into her lap, drawing her knees close to her body.  
In that moment, something sparked in clockwork Robbie’s programming, and his smile faded ever so slightly. Slowly, he approached Rottenella, a hand outstretched towards her. He recoiled, realizing he didn’t know what to say. His eyes looked around the dark, dusty room. He looked back to the music box, its music winding down and growing steadily more quiet. Gently, he began to shut the lid, before his attention was caught by the two ballroom dancer figures.  
“Robbie cannot dance ballet.” He said quietly to himself. He looked up and around the room, the glint off a transparent plastic cover grabbing his attention. Waltzing over, Robbie dug out a small, portable record player. Grabbing a record sticking out from the pile, he lugged his find out back into the open space. He gently placed the record player down, sticking the record onto the turntable, and laying the needle down on the edge of the track. An old showtune filled the room, replacing the absent music box music.

Smoothing out his velvet coat, Robbie tentatively tapped his foot against the ground, in rhythm with the music. Once he found the rhythm of the song, the clockwork Robbie suddenly sprung into a tap routine, combining hops, taps, shuffles, and brushes. At one point, he kept to the same spot, riffing repeatedly before ending with a pullback, the sound of his feet hitting the ground echoing throughout the storage room. As the music took on a more swinging sound, Robbie’s dance steps transitioned to a Charleston, with him even including ground touches with his routine. He smiled as he included some jazz hands with his dance, looking towards Rottenella with anticipation.

Rottenella, that whole time, had been watching with growing enthusiasm.  
“ _It’s not that he can’t dance, everyone’s just been asking him to dance the wrong style!_ ” she thought excitedly.  
Jumping up from her seat, Rottenella chassed over to Robbie, offering her hand to him.  
Robbie, with a sparkle in his eye, took her hand and pulled Rottenella into an open position, leading her into a swing-styled dance as the music turned jazzier and more up-tempo. It took Rottenella a second to readjust from the intricate stylings of her usual ballet steps to the six count, more loose and improvised swing steps. But luckily, with her being the follow, Robbie kept the dancing even and consistent. He transitioned from the basic six step to a triple step, aiming to catch up with the frantic musical style.  
Letting go of Rottenella’s right hand, he spun her outwards before pulling her back into the open hold. Combined with an inside turn, Robbie spun her once again outside, this time letting go of her other hand. Rottenella spun, stopping gracefully with her right foot tapping behind her. Robbie began to tap once more, Rottenella freezing as she watched his energetic, uncontrolled dance steps.  
“You must dance!” Robbie urged, gesturing to Rottenella.  
“ _Dance? Like you? I’ve never done such a thing!_ ” Rottenella thought. Hesitating a second, Rottenella decided to dance like she already knew. With a twirl, she leapt about, keeping a quick pace as she executed a balance, keeping in time with the music. It was the closest thing she had to Robbie’s frenetic tap dancing.  
Robbie smiled in approval, leaping forward and completing a fouetté, much to Rottenella’s surprise. Robbie took her hands once more, leading her back into the basic swing step.  
“Dancing is fun! Have fun! Be loose!” he suggested.  
This caused Rottenella to pause. Had she been too restrictive with her dancing at that point? Is that why she was having a hard time keeping up with the clockwork Robbie? Admittedly, the idea of just dancing so wildly made her uncomfortable, but if this was her only chance to dance with a partner, then she was going to make the best of it.

Robbie then led Rottenella into a lindy hop pattern, swinging her around in a tight circle. Rottenella smiled, allowing herself to get lost in the wild and untamed music and dance steps. She felt herself be thrown into the air, spun around, and being flipped by Robbie. She silently laughed, feeling herself fill once again with the positive energy. She realized that this must be what Stephanie and the blue elf had felt, the reason they were smiling so widely.  
“ _This is amazing. Why have I never danced with someone else before? I never want this to end_.” She thought happily.

But it’s as if the universe had a grudge against her that day, for as soon as the thought crossed her mind, the record ended. The room filled with the soft sound of static as the player’s needle bounced against the middle of the record. Robbie’s smile broke ever so slightly as the key unwound ever slower, his movements becoming more jerky and erratic. He had just sent Rottenella into another spin, and he realized he didn’t have the juice to pull her back to the open hold.  
Weakly, the clockwork Robbie gave Rottenella a smile. “T-Thank you…this…was…best…fun…” he said, his voice dying down to silence.  
As the key finally used the last of the wound-up power, Robbie froze, his head slumped, with Rottenella in the middle of a spin.

Rottenella too found her wind-up power fading.  
She pleaded in her mind. “ _Not yet! Please, not yet! I’m not ready to stay still again._ ”  
As her movements slowed, her body froze at the end of the outside turn, her right arm extended out with her hand holding Robbie’s, her left arm out behind her. Her head slumped down, her eyelids closing as she felt all the energy flee from her body.  
The moment was gone. The room returned to its silent origins. The magic that had filled the room, fueled by that moment of spontaneous dance, had vanished. Rottenella was left in the same position she was in earlier: frozen, with no one or nothing to wind her back up, for who knows how long.  
She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream. She wanted more than anything to despair over the unfairness of her existence, over how little choice she had in the matter of being trapped in a body that required assistance to function, or being trapped in a pitch-black room for the rest of time.  
She opened her eyes, looking over to the comatose Robbie. She thought about their dance, the joy it brought her. He said he enjoyed it too. Did he also wish they could’ve danced longer?  
A strange new feeling, one of resignation yet also peace, flowed over her.  
“ _At least I did get to dance with someone. I finally got to experience what Stephanie and the blue elf had. I have something to keep my spirits up, even when I’m trapped here_.” She thought calmly. With the memories of their dance alive in her mind, Rottenella fell into a deep sleep.

\--

“Useless! Completely and utterly useless!”

The loud ranting of the real Robbie Rotten stirred Rottenella from her sleep. Her eyes darted towards the door, seeing it swing open once more, the bright light filling the room. Robbie was pulling a cart full of…well to be honest Rottenella wasn’t even sure what it was supposed to be. It looked like colorful goo, but its exact purpose was lost on her. Whatever it was, it was clearly yet another attempt to get rid of Sportaflop gone wrong. And thus, she really didn’t care about that at this point.

“Yet another ruined, ingenuous plan to add to the collection! A nice room to remind me of all my failures!” Robbie moaned, hauling the cart further into the room. He stopped a moment, pouting over his lack of success. “Is this just my lot in life? Try to accomplish the simple task of making everything back to how it used to be, and fail miserably?” He sighed sadly. He was broken from his pity-partying by the sight of the two clockwork robots, still frozen in their last outside spin.  
He furrowed his brow and wrinkled his nose. “That’s funny, I thought I got rid of you two.”  
He strode over to the clockwork Robbie, examining him closely. Carefully and cautiously, Robbie prepared to wind up his clockwork double. Seeing his hand firmly holding onto the little ballerina’s, Robbie pulled them apart, her body tumbling back into the pile of junk. He then slowly turned Robbie’s key, only enough to see what he’d do.  
With his key wound, Robbie’s head jerked up, a smile still plastered on his face. He turned to the toppled Rottenella, his grin dropping into a look of horror.  
“Hey Robbie! What exactly are YOU doing here?” the real Robbie asked his double.  
Clockwork Robbie turned to Robbie, forcing his smile back. “Robbie Rotten will dance!” he commented, doing a quick tap step.  
Robbie rolled his eyes. “I know, I know, you will dance. And a lot of good that did!” He shot an annoyed look to both his clockwork double and the toppled Rottenella. “Neither of you could dance good enough to beat the little pink-haired girl! And Sportakook is still in LazyTown, with all his flippity-flopping and obnoxious spins!” Robbie stormed off past the two of them, dumping the cans of goop onto a mountain of boxes and broken contraptions. After he’d successfully gotten rid of the goop, he sighed exasperatedly.  
“If only I hadn’t made so much of this stuff.” He muttered to himself. Robbie then strode out of the storeroom, leaving the door wide open.

Clockwork Robbie, without a moment of hesitation, bent down and plucked Rottenella up off the ground. Sitting her down on a box, Robbie dusted Rottenella off, adjusting her pigtails. He gave her a fond smile before feeling his arms begin to stiffen. His wind-up energy already fading, he used the last of it to crank Rottenella’s key, completely winding her up. He froze as soon as he let go of her key.  
Rottenella’s head shot up, turning to see the comatose clockwork Robbie. She gently felt at the ribbons in her hair. Why had he done that?  
 Making sure the real Robbie wasn’t nearby, she jumped to her feet, walking behind him and winding up his key again. He sprung to life, giving a neat little bow, before turning to Rottenella. His trademark grin faded as he looked her in the eyes.  
Rottenella’s eyes were filled with an incredible sadness, one that she figured she was incapable of, given she was originally made without most emotions.  
“Little girl is sad?” he asked.  
Rottenella nodded solemnly. She pointed at the light streaming through the door, and mouthed the words, “dark again soon”.  
In a movement broken up by random pauses, the clockwork Robbie patted Rottenella’s shoulder.  
“We should leave.” He said, his voice growing less robotic and more natural.  
Rottenella looked up, her face filled with confusion and hope.  
Robbie pointed to the door, his usual smile returning.  
“We will leave! Robbie and little girl will find new home.” He said assuredly.  
Rottenella looked at the door hopefully.  
“ _But can we get passed the creator? He’s still in the lair._ ” She thought.  
Robbie bent down, rustling Rottenella’s hair. “We will be sneaky! Robbie Rotten good at sneaking!”  
Rottenella was taken aback. Could he hear what she was thinking?  
“ _No, that’s ridiculous. He must just be able to read faces_. _That…that makes more sense._ ”

The sound of oncoming footsteps signaled their need to stay still. Rottenella crumpled back onto the floor, Robbie stood at attention.  
The real Robbie Rotten entered the storage room once more, pulling another wagon full of goop. As he passed his clockwork double and Rottenella, he barely gave them a moment’s glace before dumping the next load of goop cans into the room, pulling the empty wagon back out into the hallway.  
“One more to go, then I’ll be rid of this junk for good.” He mumbled to himself.  
As soon as Robbie was out of sight, the clockwork Robbie signaled for Rottenella to make a break for it.  
Rottenella held up a hand, motioning for Robbie to wait a second. Once he assented with a worried nod, Rottenella bolted back into the storage room. She peered around the boxes, looking for one thing in particular, something she’d seen on her first day in the storage room. Fearing she’d never find it, she paused as she nearly passed it up. She smiled as she approached the little dog house and, carefully, she lifted the robotic dog up and into her arms. She had thought about how torturous it had been to sit idly in the dark storage room for months; she wasn’t going to let another of her creator’s inventions suffer the same fate. Petting the top of its head, she cradled the comatose metal dog and ran back to Robbie.

With a finger pressed to his lips, Robbie signaled for Rottenella and her new canine companion to remain quiet as they crept into the hallway. As they tip-toed, getting closer to the main room of the lair, they froze at a loud rumbling sound echoing in the main lair. Rottenella peeked around the corner, gesturing for the clockwork Robbie to keep moving. They crept past Robbie’s fluffy, orange armchair, where they found Robbie passed out, the cans of goop still sitting near his refrigerator.  
“ _Typical, he must’ve been too lazy to put everything away._ ” Rottenella thought to herself.  
As the trio reached the ladder, carefully and quietly climbing up the pipe, Rottenella gave one last glance to the snoozing Robbie, before continuing up and out into the night air.

The three stepped up and out of the pipe, Rottenella gently closing the hatch as they exited. She could barely contain her excitement as she felt her feet land upon the grassy ground, the feeling of fresh cool air hitting her porcelain face. She smiled widely, and she took off dancing and twirling, uttering silent laughs as she did. She laid flat in the grass, laying the metallic dog next to her, staring up at the twinkling stars above her. She sighed. It was all so beautiful, more beautiful than she could’ve imagined.

Her ears perked up as she heard the clockwork Robbie approaching, his key still ticking as it unwound. He extended a hand out to her, Rottenella taking it with nodded thanks, standing to her feet.  
The Robbie double gave her a warm smile, one that differed from his usual, almost uncannily large grin. It was a genuine smile, one that was, dare she say, _human_.  
“Where do we go now?” he asked.  
Rottenella quirked up an eyebrow. “ _Where do_ we _go?_ ”  
Robbie nodded, then pointed back towards LazyTown. “We go there?”  
Rottenella, her eyes drawn to the lights of the town, shook her head slowly. She knew that if they went to LazyTown, not only would they potentially scare the residents, but they would most certainly be found by their mutual creator. She backed away from Robbie, the dog still in her arms.  
Robbie’s smile faded as he looked hurt. “Where you going?” he asked in an innocent tone of voice.  
Rottenella, pointing to herself, then pointed away. She mouthed the words: “I am alone. I go alone.” She started to walk away.  
Robbie, still looking hurt, slowly approached Rottenella. “You are not alone. You are family!”  
Rottenella stopped in her tracks. She turned to face Robbie once more, her expression one of confusion and disbelief.  
Robbie gave her a sad smile. He gestured to her. “We are same. We both are…are…” he said, fumbling for the right words. “…runaways! We need keys.” He said, pointing to the key on her back. He shook his head. “Can’t go alone. Need each other.” His smile brightened. “Families…need each other. They take care of each other. They don’t want others to be hurt or sad. We take care of the other. I don’t want you to get hurt. So, we like family.”

Rottenella still looked in disbelief. She couldn’t believe that, given how she’d treated him in the past and how little they interacted, this man actually _cared_ about her. She toyed with her hair ribbons once more. Really, after all she’d been through, she couldn’t believe in the idea of _anyone_ caring about her.  
Robbie, as if to try and sell Rottenella further on the idea, then pointed to himself. “Robbie, like father.” He pointed to Rottenella. “Little girl, like daughter.” He pointed to the powered down dog. “Dog, our pet.” His smile beamed at the idea.  
Rottenella felt an emotion build within her, one that mixed with her disbelief and formed something new. Or not that new? It was still a little familiar. It was more like…joy. That was it. She felt joy and hope. The idea of having someone who cared for her, wanted to keep her safe, to dance with her. Rottenella was a glow as she fixated on that thought.  
Looking back at Robbie, she gave him a smile, nodding.  
Robbie, nearly ready to jump with joy, gave Rottenella a slightly awkward, but well-meaning hug. Rottenella, likewise, awkwardly and stiffly returned the hug. Baby steps, she guessed. There was still a lot they both had to learn.

Robbie let go, standing up tall. He pointed towards the road that led out of town.  
“We go there. We will start new, as family.” He grinned.  
Rottenella smiled, and mouthed a word: “Father.”  
Robbie, his expression one of surprise, smiled happily. He patted Rottenella’s back, leading her along towards the road.  
As the got farther away from the lair, Rottenella paused, putting the robotic dog down. With a flick of the switch, the dog came alive, yapping and barking a storm. Rottenella leaned down, hushing the mechanical pup, patting its head gently. As the dog calmed down, Rottenella peered at its name tag. “Sugar Pie” was inscribed upon the metal tag.  
She mouthed the dog’s name to Robbie, who nodded in response.  
“Sugar Pie! Good name. Come, Sugar Pie.” He called.  
Sugar Pie looked up and barked in response, faithfully following at the heels of Robbie.  
Robbie gestured Rottenella further. “Let’s go, daughter.”  
Rottenella quirked an eyebrow. “ _But where? We don’t have any money, no jobs. Do we have any idea of what we’re doing?_ ” she thought.  
Robbie smirked and gently poked his newly adopted daughter’s nose. “We figure that out! We’re on adventure!” he said excitedly.  
Rottenella smiled and followed along closely. An adventure; now that sounded very nice.

_Art by kessavel-art on Tumblr: http://kessavel-art.tumblr.com/tagged/lazy-to-color_


	2. Epilogue

_Two months later_

Old Mr. Herman trimmed his shrubbery with the upmost care. His hedges were something he took great pride in keeping clean and styled. Each week he’d check on their branches and leaves, ensuring that nothing was out of place or looked untamed. And each week, he’d snip off at the edges and the tops to keep a consistent and aesthetically appealing look. He took in a deep breath, humming happily at the sweet and warm scent of the late afternoon air.  
As he clipped off more overgrown parts of the hedges, the sound of a yapping dog interrupted his train of thought. He looked up and smiled as he saw the mechanical dog roll down the sidewalk, pulling steadily at the long, purple leash that was attached to its collar. Holding carefully onto the loop was his owner.  
Mr. Herman smiled as the girl approached. “Good afternoon, Ella! How was school!” he said, carefully signing as he spoke.  
Rottenella pulled firmly back on the leash, signaling for Sugar Pie to halt. She gave a small, thin lipped smile as she signed back, “School was good. I’m reading _Anthem_ by Ayn Rand for my English class!”  
Mr. Herman’s eyes widened. “Ayn Rand? That’s quite advanced for a third grader!” he shakily signed. He hadn’t used his sign language for so many years that, while he was thankful that he now had someone to practice with on a daily basis, he still struggled at times to remember certain gestures.  
“My teacher says I’m ready for high school level books. She says I’m a very good reader.” Rottenella responded.  
“Clearly! That is fantastic to hear.” Mr. Herman signed. “How was dancing class?”  
“Very fun. We’re getting ready for our first recital.” Rottenella signed. She mouthed the word for “stay” to Sugar Pie, who sat obediently as she placed the leash on the ground. Stepping into first position, she ran through a small part of her routine for her neighbor, which included several pirouettes and leaps. As she finished, Mr. Herman applauded.  
“You’re such a talented dancer, Ella!” he praised.  
Rottenella smiled warmly and curtseyed. She picked up Sugar Pie’s leash and was about to say farewell before Mr. Herman handed her a piece of paper.  
“Can you give this to your dad for me? He’s always making meals for us and we do appreciate it. We just thought he might appreciate some new recipes.” He said with a smile.  
Rottenella gave a silent laugh and nodded. Ever since she and Robbie arrived in the small town, Robbie had been working hard to help acclimate their strange, self-created family to the world of organic beings, which meant he tried to continuously educate himself and expose Rottenella to “human” things. This, of course, included meals which, even though neither robot had the ability or need to eat, he made every single day. Not wanting to waste food, Robbie would often give the meals to their neighbors. Rottenella thought it was rather silly that he would cook meals they couldn’t enjoy, but cooking seemed to make Robbie absolutely ecstatic, so she couldn’t complain.

Waving goodbye and giving thanks to Mr. Herman, Rottenella walked down the lane for two more blocks, keeping a careful hold on Sugar Pie’s leash. In her mind, she hummed a tune she’d heard on the radio as she gazed at the many gardens and flower beds that were planted in the neighborhood. Never in her existence could she imagine that so many colorful plants could exist. She often caught herself staring for long periods of time at the crimson roses, carnations pink like the skies during sunset, and forget-me-nots as blue as how she imagined the ocean to be. She gently brushed a porcelain finger against the petal of one blossom, savoring the smooth yet textured feeling of the flower.  
Finally reaching the gate to her home, she turned off the sidewalk and pushed the gate open, walking past the white picket fence and the multitudes of untamed, disorganized flower beds and towards the multicolored home. After such a long time of being trapped in a dark, pitch black room, when given a choice of what colors to paint their home, Robbie and Rottenella went nuts and picked up as many colors of paint they could afford and splashed them all over their quaint little home. To most, it looked garish and a bit of an eyesore. But for Rottenella, it was absolutely beautiful and featured the colors she loved most (which, honestly, was almost all of them).

Rottenella opened the front door and unclipped the leash from Sugar Pie’s collar, allowing the robotic dog to roll into the home with a bark and a yip. As she hung the leash on the coat rack, she was suddenly pulled into a tight hug from behind.  
“Welcome home!” said Robbie cheerily.  
Rottenella silently laughed and turned around to give the man a hug back. Pulling back, she noticed that Robbie was still in his work uniform: a green polo shirt and khakis, covered with a white apron that had the Harvest Goods Grocery logo printed on its front (four yellow leaves) with his name tag pinned to the upper right side.  
She looked at Robbie curiously. “Did you just get home?” she signed.  
Robbie nodded enthusiastically. “Robbie was given the afternoon off! Mr. Stephens said I could have a break after all my hard work!” he said with a tired smile.  
Rottenella chewed on her lip gently and nodded. In her mind, she thanked Mr. Stephens because, if anyone deserved time off from work, it was her dad. She thought about how Robbie already woke up before the sunrise to get ready for work, often making breakfast that would sit on the stove for her or put in the microwave to keep warm, and leaving a small note for her to find when she woke up. She thought about how some days he’d work well past dinnertime, and would arrive home happy but worn out. She knew he didn’t mind such long hours, but she did hope that soon enough the high of his new job would wear off and he’d start setting more reasonable hours with his boss.

Rottenella walked into the kitchen as Robbie proudly gestured to the stove.  
“We have soup for dinner! Chicken noodle soup!” he said happily.  
“ _The neighbors will love it._ ” Rottenella thought to herself with a smirk. She took out her assigned reading from her backpack and began to work through the passage, writing the occasional note as she did. Robbie glanced over from stirring the soup, staring with interest at his daughter’s book.  
Placing down the ladle, he took one of the books from her reading pile.  
“ _T-The Lion, The Witch, and The…W-Wardrobe_?” he asked, reading the title carefully. One of the many unfortunate traits he’d gained from being an exact, clockwork clone of his creator was his reading ability wasn’t always the best. He liked to read, but at times it was challenging for him, especially with more complex words or words from other languages. To combat this, he’d often borrow books from the library (whose librarian already knew Robbie and Rottenella well enough to suggest books they’d like, despite not arriving too long ago) or from his daughter.  
Rottenella nodded. “Do you want to read it? I’ve finished it already.” She asked.  
Robbie lit up and smiled. “Yes, I do!” he said excitedly. Holding the book under his arm, he propped the book up and held the pages open with another cookbook, reading the first pages slowly as he continued to stir the soup. Rottenella smiled as she could see her father mouthing the words as he read.

The two “finished” dinner (with Robbie taking the soup over to the Hermans) and made their way to their living room. They’d yet to be able to afford things like a couch or chairs, so currently their living room was only decorated with multiple blankets and worn pillows, a small pile of books that sat in a corner, and a string of twinkle lights that Robbie had hung over the window. As he plugged in the lights, Rottenella quickly took some chairs from the dining room and made a makeshift blanket fort. The two hurried underneath their hiding place, with Sugar Pie barking and happily joining them under the cozy hideaway.  
Robbie turned on a small camping lantern, allowing Rottenella to see as she worked on her latest drawing. Robbie looked over to see her drawing two figures dancing, one in purple crayon, the other in red.  
“Who’s that?” he asked, pointing to the red one.  
Rottenella smiled and pointed at him.  
Robbie grinned. “And that’s you?” he asked, pointing to the purple one.  
Rottenella nodded.  
Robbie gave her a big hug. “It looks very good! You should put it on the fridge!”  
“ _I would, but I think we’re out of room._ ” She thought and chuckled. She glanced over to their fridge, which indeed was more paper than fridge at this point. While there were a few more important documents like grocery lists and reminders tacked on there, it was mostly Rottenella’s drawings and photos Robbie took, interspersed with a few doodles that Robbie himself drew. By all accounts, their fridge had become a sort of art gallery.

After finishing a few more drawings, Rottenella could feel herself grow tired. She yawned. Admittedly, she wasn’t sure exactly _how_ she got tired, given that she wasn’t human and all. But she did somewhat like this part of the day, even if it meant she couldn’t go exploring or playing for the time being.  
She gently laid back against the pile of pillows and blankets, kicking her shoes off as she got comfortable.  
Seeing his daughter grow tired, Robbie carefully and dotingly pulled a blanket over her and placed a small kiss on her head. Rottenella smiled, and pointed at the book Robbie borrowed from her earlier.  
“You want me to read?” Robbie asked nervously.  
Rottenella nodded encouragingly.  
Robbie sat up straight and cleared his throat. “O-Okay, Robbie Rotten will read!” he said in a silly tone of voice and with a big grin.  
Rottenella snuggled up in her blankets, glancing around the room as Robbie began to read. In that moment, she couldn’t help but feel a mixture of peacefulness and yet…melancholy. Or perhaps that wasn’t quite the right word for it. She just couldn’t help but think about how a life like this, just a few months ago, was nothing but a farfetched dream. She thought about how, originally, all she wanted was to experience what it was like to dance with a partner. Now, not only had she gotten a chance to do so on multiple occasions, but she now had a new life with a full-fledged family. She had someone who cared about her, and someone she cared about back. She didn’t have to feel jealous or envious of the people in LazyTown anymore, or anger towards her creator. Because now, she had everything she could’ve ever dreamed of. She was free.  
And as she thought more about all that had happened since she was first created, she could feel the need to cry surge over her. She didn’t have the capability to cry, but she felt the urge nonetheless.  
Robbie stopped, looking worriedly at his daughter. “Ella, are you sad?” he asked anxiously.  
Sitting up, Rottenella shook her head. “I’m sorry, I was just thinking about how lucky I am to be here. To have you as a dad.” She signed with a fond smile.  
Robbie beamed, and gave a warm smile back. “Well, I’m lucky to have you as a daughter. And I’m lucky to have all this too. Thank you.” He said, giving her a hug.  
Rottenella hugged him back before sliding back onto her pillow. Robbie adjusted his sitting position, then began to read once more, reading slowly and carefully.

After reading two chapters, eventually Robbie found himself growing tired too. Throwing off his apron, he crawled under his own blanket and laid down on his side of the fort.   
“Good night, Ella.” He said wearily, as he nodded off to sleep.  
Rottenella gave a half smile. “Good night, dad.” She mouthed, before she herself drifted off into dreams of oceans and open fields full of color.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And if you look closely, you'll see vouchers for a free visit to your local dentist, due to how tooth-rottingly sweet this epilogue is.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this little fanfic! It was fun to write this character dynamic and maybe I'll write more for it in the future! (If I come up with a good idea that is.)
> 
> Thank you for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: I wrote this fanfiction back in January, but I wasn't happy with its original ending and thus why I didn't post it initially. I've tweaked it a bit though so hopefully you guys will enjoy it!
> 
> I'll post the second chapter shortly. It's just an epilogue and completely optional to read if you like how this ended already. I just wanted to write some more fluffy sweet stuff with dad!Clockwork Robbie and daughter!Rottenella. As well as write what happened to them after this chapter.
> 
> Thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed this!


End file.
